In order to try and keep the Gardenlaw forum the excellent web resource that it has always been we have decided to introduce some forum rules as follows:
1: Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users.
Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning, if the warning is ignored then the member may be removed from the forum at the admin teams discretion. If members see a post that they object to for these reasons please use the report post feature and explain why you are reporting it.

2: Members should remember this board is aimed at a general audience.
Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a permanent ban and deletion of their account.

3: Members are asked only to post in English, as this is an English speaking community

4: Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing".
That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts.

5: The moderating, support and other teams reserve the right to edit, remove, lock or put on moderation queue any post or thread at any time and, where necessary, ban users either temporarily or permanently as required.
The Garden Law forum is aimed at topics around garden related issues. The determination of what is construed as off topic ie threads or posts which are not consistent with the aims and ethos of the forum, bullying, indecent, vulgar, spam, as noted in these points is up to Admin Team Members and not users.

6: The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging.
Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging.

7: Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban or other moderator action will lead to a permanent ban of your account(s).
Circumvention includes re-registering or using an already registered account under a non-banned username. Other examples include changing IP addresses, using a new email account or other action that can be taken to evade moderator action to hide your identity as the owner of the sanctioned account.

8: All discussion using the private message system should remain that and not be posted in public.

We want Gardenlaw.co.uk to be a friendly place that people can obtain advice about their garden related issues without fear of insult, harassment or intimidation, so your continued membership is reliant upon adherence to the above rules.

9: In recent times we have had a number of people requesting that their threads and posts be removed.
Please may we remind members that this is a public forum. Members give their time and expertise for free for the greater good of the community.
Removing threads removes a valuable resource.Please DO NOT POST on this forum if you do not want your information shared on a permanent basis.
Please also ensure that your user name is suitably anonymous so that you cannot be identified. Do not use any part of your own name or address.

Last edited by gardenlaw on Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:28 am, edited 11 times in total.